Chapter 55: Lone Traveler

Ji Xinghuo sat on the train, landscapes rapidly passing by under the starry night.

Despite the starry night, the train compartment was still filled with many passengers, most of whom were hunters like him, though they had teams and rarely traveled alone.

The train was headed to the City of Freedom.

Ji Xinghuo pondered long about where this hunting trip should take him.

Naturally, the areas around Olympia City were the safest since the extrahumans had cleared most of the dangers, suitable for his first solo hunting.

But safety also meant fewer gains.

He could also visit other cities’ surrounding areas.

Like Flying Dragon City.

Flying Dragon City, also part of the Asia-Pacific Community, lay over a hundred kilometers east of Olympia. Qi Zhaofeng had mentioned traces of Feathered Serpent south of Flying Dragon City in Razor Valley.

Ji Xinghuo had contemplated venturing into Razor Valley to try his luck, but after making inquiries, he learned that this information was widely known.

The possibility of a Feathered Serpent giving birth to a flying extrahuman was too enticing.

This would undoubtedly attract numerous teams.

Consulting maps and data, Ji Xinghuo noted Razor Valley was only about twenty kilometers long. Numerous hunting teams could thoroughly comb through the valley and clear all its creatures, leaving minimal gains for a lone hunter like him, almost certainly making it a wasted trip.

He needed spiritual source energy, with the extrahuman aspect being secondary.

Best to go somewhere with plenty of monsters and little competition from hunting teams but still relatively safe.

Peak Valley immediately came to mind!

Peak Valley teemed with millions of Stonescythe Specters, but they held little extrahuman value which deterred hunting teams from going there to hunt.

Although vast, spanning fifty to sixty thousand square kilometers, it was difficult for most to find the groups of Stonescythe Specters.

Yet, that was hardly a challenge for him.

Moreover, after spending ten days there with Ren Mian and others last time, he was familiar with its geography and climate, giving him confidence over an entirely unfamiliar place.

As for the Hong-class giant Stonescythe; it was best avoided.

Peak Valley was an ideal place to obtain spiritual source energy, unmatched within the human-controlled territories on Earth.

Its only downside was its remoteness.

As night approached.

The train reached the City of Freedom. Ji Xinghuo checked into an inn near the train station, got up early at dawn, had his breakfast, and left the city.

Many hunting teams also set off at this time.

This allowed full use of daylight making it possible to cover great distances on the first day, maximizing travel efficiency.

Carrying his backpack, Ji Xinghuo walked alone, encountering several teams whose extrahuman members gave him measuring looks.

At first, the mostly teamless entities he encountered harbored no ill intentions, but as he walked for a few hours and distanced from the City of Freedom, their gaze shifted.

The City of Freedom, being a Western Alliance city, predominantly housed Westerners.

Due to geopolitical factors, there was no direct conflict between the Asia-Pacific Community and the Western Alliance, but historically, the relationship between them was never friendly, often ending up in opposite camps.

Earth now followed a dual superpower, dual strength structure.

The world’s major powers intertwined complexly but generally split into two camps.

One led by the Asia-Pacific Community, seconded by the New Roman Empire, including dozens of nations in the Eastern bloc. On the other side was the American Federation, leading the Western Democratic Alliance. With the New Roman Empire neighboring the Western bloc, they were in continual opposition, engaging in frequent border wars deeply rooted in animosity.

Most conflicts and wars on Earth, regardless of in which continent or country they occurred, evolved into confrontations between these two superpower blocs.

This superpower struggle defined the 23rd century!

Numerous historians, politicians, and scholars of international relations had reached a consensus over the years: Earth was inevitably heading towards unification!

And unification might not be far in this century or at the latest within the next three hundred years.

Yet, no consensus existed on the likely victor.

Over 95% of Earth’s people believed the winner would emerge either from the Asia-Pacific Community or the American Federation, the chances for other nations being slim.

As a long-term ally of the American Federation, the Western Alliance naturally hoped for an American victory.

Therefore, the people of the Western Alliance generally held unfriendly, if not hostile, attitudes towards those from the Asia-Pacific Community.

Earthly disputes extended into the star realms.

In human cities, although citizens of various countries coexisted peacefully and maintained order, outside the cities, encounters with teams from other, especially hostile, countries seldom missed opportunities for conflict.

Most teams leaving the City of Freedom were Westerners.

Seeing Ji Xinghuo alone, an Easterner with a valuable hawk bow on his back, it was hard for them not to be tempted.

“People can truly harbor evil thoughts!”

Ji Xinghuo felt the malice several times; had other teams not been around, someone likely would have attacked by now.

He intended to keep his distance but some teams closed in.

“Forget it.”

Ji Xinghuo didn’t want to start a conflict just upon leaving the city, lest it disrupt his hunting plans.

He lightly touched the stealth ring worn on his index finger with his thumb. The light around him refracted hiding him within a transparent outline, becoming difficult to notice beyond three meters.

As the magnetic field activated, Ji Xinghuo ran swiftly.

“Silence” absorbed the sound of his movements, making his run silent.

The team’s extrahumans noticed Ji Xinghuo’s disappearance, immediately became alert, defensively grouped, and searched intensely for Ji Xinghuo but after long, realizing there was no attack, they knew Ji Xinghuo had long departed.

Ji Xinghuo ran several kilometers before deactivating the stealth mode.

The stealth ring continuously consumed star energy, using up 185 points of star energy in at most an hour.

Moreover, carrying a heavy backpack while running fast meant dual depletion of physical and star energy, exhausting him in less than half an hour.

Thereafter, Ji Xinghuo used magnetic field sensing to detect other hunting teams early, activating his stealth ring to avoid them.

As long as he didn’t use his star energy, the tier-two rotating magnetic field’s powerful recovery ability allowed him continuous running.

Ji Xinghuo traveled over three hundred kilometers in a single day.

He passed team after team, walking over a hundred kilometers more in the starry night.

Only when night fell did Ji Xinghuo set up camp in the forest. He carefully selected this spot, nestled between two huge rocks with branches covering the top. If a monster approached from the front, he could escape upward at any moment.

Ji Xinghuo refrained from lighting a fire. The Wanxiang Star Pupils allowed him to see clearly in the dark.

After eating some dry food and water to fill his stomach.

Ji Xinghuo sat alone in his tent, listening to the insects and birds outside in the pitch-dark, deep forest, occasionally hearing distant calls.

Magnetic field sensing scanned the eight hundred meters around him, and before setting up the tent, he walked a circle outside to ensure no danger.

Despite these precautions, he still felt a bit uneasy.

Not enough to be scared, but being alone in the wilderness for the first time inevitably led to wild thoughts.

“No wonder everyone prefers to hunt in teams.”

“No one to keep watch, missing that sense of security.”

Ji Xinghuo muttered under his breath, suddenly missing Ren Mian.

During their last hunt, it was always him and Ren Mian taking turns to keep watch. Awakening in the tent, just opening his eyes and seeing her there provided a profound sense of safety. Moreover, without an outer plant protective layer and only his simplistically set traps making slight noise, they offered little more than a whisper.

“Sleeping time!”

Ji Xinghuo crawled into his sleeping bag, closed his eyes, and his breathing soon became steady.

Yet, he fell into a half-sleep state, ready to wake at the slightest noise outside the tent.

The night passed.

Ji Xinghuo had a fitful sleep, yawning several times.

He awoke many times due to animals or small creatures nearing his tent, although they posed no threat, they still disturbed his sleep.

This intermittent sleep naturally affected its quality. Normally, a five or six hour sleep refreshed his mind and body, but now he needed over ten hours.

It wasn’t convenient to light a fire at night, but it was possible during the day.

Ji Xinghuo set up a small pot to cook himself a bowl of instant noodles, simultaneously packing up his tent and backpack while waiting for the noodles to cook.

“Jiu jiu…”

A sharp call came from the sky.

Ji Xinghuo stopped his actions and turned towards the sound. The trees around the campsite were sparse and the location was quite high, offering a clear view of several dark figures moving about three to four kilometers to the north, flying about two hundred meters above the ground.

The Wanxiang Star Pupils drew the shadows closer in the field of view for a clearer look.

“Face Owls!”

Ji Xinghuo recognized these creatures.

They resembled owls but were several times larger with wingspans exceeding three meters. Their wingtips also featured a pair of huge black talons, like human hands. Apart from the curved beak, their large eyes were accompanied by brow feathers and distinct facial contours, resembling human faces, hence their name.

Face Owls’ nature was extremely ferocious. They preferred to hunt in groups and especially liked to feast on primates with humans included.

They had excellent vision.

When Ji Xinghuo spotted the Face Owls, they also noticed the human on the ground.

With a piercing screech.

Six Face Owls immediately accelerated towards him, lowering their altitude as they identified Ji Xinghuo as their prey.

“Perfect for an extra meal.”

Ji Xinghuo instantly grabbed the Dragon Falcon Hawk Bow, picked a handful of titanium-aluminum alloy arrows, and climbed onto a rock, aiming at the sky.

The Face Owls approached rapidly, entering shooting range in less than half a minute.

Ji Xinghuo didn’t shoot immediately.

When the leading Face Owl dived toward him at less than 200 meters, he released the first arrow.

Whiz!

The bowstring of the Dragon Falcon retracted and snapped back, releasing immense kinetic energy that propelled the arrow flying, vanishing in a blink.

The diving Face Owl shrieked in pain as its heart was penetrated. It lost power in its wings and fell towards the ground due to momentum.

Ji Xinghuo quickly followed up with continuous shots. Each time the Dragon Falcon Hawk Bow opened and closed, an arrow was instantly released.

He shot a total of five arrows.

All six Face Owls were downed, with the third arrow taking down two at once.

Bang bang bang…

The bodies of the Face Owls broke branches as they fell into the woods, the group of monsters was wiped out in an instant.

Ji Xinghuo caressed the hawk bow in his hand, very pleased with its first performance.

He climbed down from the rock, took the cooked noodles off the fire, and then walked towards the bodies of the Face Owls. The drop location was not far, just over a hundred meters. When Ji Xinghuo arrived, they were already dead. Touching a body, an information interface popped up.

【Monster: Face Owl】

【Level: Oddity】

【Extrahuman: Ripping】

This group of Face Owls were ordinary oddity-level monsters with no elites, only possessing a “Ripping” extrahuman ability from their wingtip talons.

Ripping was a basic ability with moderate potency.

Humans lack claws, and their nails aren’t sharp enough, only short weapons like daggers can effectively utilize the Ripping effect, causing larger wounds on enemies.

However, few people chose to integrate Ripping, so it held little value.

Ji Xinghuo didn’t bother collecting the extrahuman ability, after checking all six Face Owls, no other extrahumans were found.

He cut a piece of leg meat from a Face Owl, retrieved his titanium-aluminum alloy arrows, and returned to the campsite. He roasted the bird meat on the fire, eating it along with the noodles.

“Tastes good, the meat is tender.”

“If Caiyi were here, she could probably roast it even tastier.”

Ji Xinghuo glanced at the Wanxiang Star Pupils interface.

Apart from providing bird meat, the greatest value of this group of Face Owls was the 6 points of spiritual source energy they contributed, accumulating to 35 points now.

After packing up the tent and luggage, Ji Xinghuo continued his journey, heading west.